Six Years
by seghen
Summary: It has been six years since Draco Malfoy graduated from Hogwarts. Before him is Hermione Granger, but there is something about her that he does not know, and it pertains to himself. UPDATED AS OF 10 5 05.
1. Surprise

**My first one-shot, PLEASE, give me some input! i love all y'all, but ur stingy reviewers! heehehehhehehhehe. maybe this could become more than a one-shot, who knows?...**

Draco Malfoy bit back a scream that was rising inside his throat as he looked at the figure before him. It had been six years, six of the longest years of his life since he graduated from Hogwarts. His thoughts were fuzzy, and he did not remember seeing her in the past few years, but she looked so familiar. Despite the minimal change in his appearance, he was no longer the same man...he was very different.

Harry Potter was defeated and he took along that fool Dumbledore and Remus Lupin, the dirty blooded lycan. To say that the world had changed would be a drastic understatement. The living Muggles were all under the Imperious curse, forced to maintain the purebloods' land and homes, like slaves.

Hermione Granger laid limply at his feet, her curly brown hair sticky and wet from the gushing wound on the back of her head. He studied the girl closely...the wedding ring on her finger ontop of the engagement ring. Malfoy felt unjustifiable rage rise and bubble inside of him at the sight of this, though he did not know why.

To say that he liked the girl was a stretch...and _love?_ That was absolutely preposterous. But she was everything he could not have, and if he _could _have it he would not want it. She never swooned over him or looked at him in any way that displayed anything more than hate and revulsion.

In his seventh year he had sordid fantasies about bedding the virtuous and chaste Miss Granger, though it was nothing more than a dream. She would be difficult to conquer and impossible to break. She was the only person he could never figure out after a few conversations. She was full of surprises and was never predictable. He admired and hated this about her.

But after six years, here she lay, nearly unconscious. Draco's father, Lucius thought that it would be humorous to bring the filthy mudblood before him, for his own amusement. He was not sure if he was more disgusted or aroused by this thought.

"Draco?" She said cautiously, though her voice was weak from the beating she had just been administered.

"Why, Mudblood. So weak." He taunted, his gray eyes shimmering in the darkness. She wheezed briefly before pushing herself to her feet, spitting a mouthful of blood and saliva onto the damp and dewy grass.

"Oh, it's _you._"

"My _husband _will find me." She accentuated the word in her own lofty manner, bringing her nose into the air. For one who had just been beat into a bloody pulp, she was pretty damn arrogant. Malfoy sneered at the comment.

"I'm sure, Granger." He said sarcastically, her dark brown eyes glittering with distaste as he circled her like a predator does its prey.

"Did you marry Weasel? I know you didn't wed Potter, seeing as he kicked it..." A crisp, angry slap graced his cheek, color coming to his face as Hermione struck him.

"Bastard. Don't talk about Harry like that," She barked, as though she was the one in control. Malfoy only smiled oddly before gripping her neck, smelling the sickenly intoxicated scent of her sweat.

"Did. You. Marry. Weasel." He seemed so calm, but his eyes betrayed his contempt.

Hermione let out a humorless laugh before sneering at him. "No. He's really not my type, _Malfoy_." She spit out the name with disgust, not bothering to fight his vice-like grip.

"Who is it?"

"I hardly am obliged to answer such a question. You're not you. You're under the Imperius Curse." She replied loftily, watching a look of surprise dance in his eyes.

_No your not. She's lying. You are doing all of this of your own freewill. _A strong voice told him, a voice that he had grown to rely on. "Why would you think such a thing, _Mudblood_." She flinched at the name but her voice did not lose its sharp, yet weak, annoyance.

"You would know, _Malfoy_, because you have been controlled for the past few years on and off. And on one of your off days..." She smiled grimly, relishing his confusion.

"What?" He snapped.

"I didn't marry Ron, you git, because I married you, or Draco, at least."

**Hahahahhahaha! that was fun to write, i love dropping little hints, like from the beginning with the _hopeful_ Draco? How she regarded the Imperius-controlled D.M. as _Malfoy_ so obviously?**


	2. Truth

**I only got two reviews but even one review is enough to make me go on with a story! id like to thank my reviewers samtiger and bubblebegonecrazy! but now that they have this hit thing i kno that 67 people read it...SO REVIEW, PLEASE! this was supposed to be a oneshot but, hell, ill update.**

He wanted to scream. He wasn't sure why this came as such a shock, but he knew, somehow, that she was not lying. He said it anyway, though. "You're lying." But she could tell that his words were said with little conviction and not even he believed them.

"You really don't remember, do you?" She asked sadly, though her eyes were still alight witht the same fiery passion that he remembered.

"It's been four months, no owls, no trace of you? We were all left to think you were dead until I read _The Witch Weekly..._but I would not believe it. You? There had to be something wrong. How could _you _kill all those people? I refused to believe that nonsense and yet here I am, tortured half to death by my _beloved _husband." Her tone was sarcastic, but sadness reached her eyes.

"Stop," But there was compassion in his voice. He was not remembering, but he knew what she said was truth. _None of it is true! Kill her! _A voice ordered in the back of his head, but he fought to ignore it for the second time.

"Aren't you going to ask about your _son, _Draco? I was six months pregnant when you disappeared...do you even remember _that_?" She asked, her tone even yet breathless.

Malfoy stopped pacing and looked at her with horror and disgust. _You did not have a child with a mudblood. She is lying...kill her. _The voice commanded, but he barely heard it. Each of her words rang with truth, despite his denial.

"Ron wanted to adopt little Harry..." This name struck a chord in him. _She dared to name my heir after that bastard? _

"but I had refused. I would not believe that you could so blatantly flout your responsibilities, and I was right. You have to fight it, _Draco_." This was the second time she addressed him by his first name opposed to his surname, and, if anything, this calmed him.

"It's impossible. I would never lower myself to have sex with a revlting mudblood, Granger." But the instant the words left his mouth they felt wrong, somehow, he knew that they were not true.

She blinked, hurt blazing in her eyes for an instant before rage taking its place. "Believe what you want, Malfoy." She resorted to the use of his last name once more in her anger.

"But it is true. You don't have to believe it, because it really doesn't matter to me." For an instant...a mere instant, horror flashed in her deep brown eyes.

"When you kill me, don't go after the baby." She commanded, the mere thought haunting her beyond belief. Even if she was gone, she refused to let her baby be raised by one of the most evil, misled men in all of England.

"If it really is mine, I have every right to do with it what I please." He responded coolly, though he reveled in the satisfaction of terrifying her.

"Ron won't let you." She said weakly, knowing that this would not hold much weight for him.

"_Ron? _Are you with _Ron _now? Is he your new lover, now that your beloved husband won't return?" The jealousy came back full force, though he now had an explanation. She was his wife, though he could not remember her. He glared at his own hand, trying to indicate a tan line where a wedding band used to be. He was so pale that even if there had been one it would not have been noticed.

"I love Draco, and as long as he's alive I will never move on." She replied, satisfied to see a glint of concern in his eyes. She was bringing him back...

**I hate resorting to such means but...if necessary...i will not update until I have at least ten reviews. i kno, very selfish, but i am writing like three other stories. i have to kno if this one takes priority.**


	3. Stop it

**im on a kick. i love SWSNBSA, it's my fav story, but i was just reviewing old reviews and i decided to update this one, along with my new oneshot (read, please) Moved On. sorry for the long wait!**

_Don't believe the conniving little Mudblood. She lies, she deceives. She's a woman, a lesser being. _Malfoy was shaking now as the voice grew crueler and colder as it realized that he was fighting the curse.

She noticed the lack of control and strength in his posture, and exploited it. "We were married three years after we graduated. Your father broke out of Azkaban two days after the news hit the papers in hopes of turning you, or killing me. Maybe both." She said, a sardonic smile curling on her lips.

_Stop it. _This was his own mind's voice, pleading with her. She would not listen. "Harry didn't come, he forbade it, you remember? He sent back the invitation and you told me that you would eviscerate him as a wedding present." There was laughter in her eyes. "Ron reconciled to the match before we were even wed and did join the festivities" _Stop it..._his own weak voice wasn't sure whether he was speaking more to the other, more dominating voice, or Hermione.

"Luna Lovegood was a bridesmaid, remember what you said when you found out?" She pleaded, piercing his eyes with her stare. He shook his head weakly. _Lies, all lies! Kill her before she poisons you..._the strong, angry voice nearly shrieked. _STOP it. _He answered, concentrating on Hermione's voice in hopes of drowning out the other.

"You told me that she would probably strap on that ridiculous lion's head and somehow meld it with a snake. I was almost surprised when she didn't." He could tell that she was speaking more to herself than to him, remembering the good times always helped get her through the bad.

"I saw you a few months after Hogwarts at Gringotts and we got into some blazing row before actually beginning -what you can call- a civilized conversation...no..." She thought better of it. "Argument, more like it." Despite her pain and bruises, she smiled at the memory.

_STOP IT._

It was easy to sweetly ignore what she could not hear. "Your mother would make fun of my weight, seeing as she was a face on a stick herself. Remember when she tried to force me into her old wedding gown?" She looked at him hopefully, though his face was slack. She smiled with an air of sadness before continuing. "And I told you that I didn't want a cursed dress, seeing as her marriage went to the gutters..."

His subconscious could not longer take it, and at the top of his lungs he at long last screamed. "STOP IT!" Not to a startled Hermione, but to the voice attempting to control his thoughts and actions. And then he remembered everything.

**I dont know what it is, school? but something gives me the update itch, and im going to scratch it...by updating a story that has not been updated in months with 109 reviews and 24 favs, guess what? i dont really get why im doin this, but i am. reviews, please, i just want opinions!**


	4. Limping Away

**im back. read. review.**

Their wedding...their wedding night..._everything. _He could hardly believe that in the six years since he graduated from Hogwarts so much could have happened. So much could have gone _wrong, _and the only right thing was Hermione.

Marriage did not tame her, they still argued as blazingly as ever. There was something about that their relationship that told him that it would never simply fade into indifference. It was raw, it was _real._

Love had not formed easily. He was Head Boy and she was Head Girl, but both of them were exceedingly talented at ignoring one another. Not a single shred of interest from either side had visibly appeared, though there was always something about her...

Like Harry, Hermione's prejudices against Death Eaters and Slytherins had nearly brainwashed her into not recognizing that they had something. A spark of interest, a flicker of understanding that neither of them would acknowledge what it was until the school setting faded into darkness and all was left was...them.

They did not have a perfect marriage with showers of gifts and giggles. A whole circle of friends that both of them fit into like perfect little puzzle pieces. There were hardships, but there was also love.

"You named my son Harry?" He asked, a quizzical expression on his face. Hermione looked bemused for a moment before he continued. "I thought that we had decided on Aurelius, Regulus or Agamemnon. Harry wasn't even in the running."

Her eyes widened and her lips parted, though no noise escaped from them. He went on, the perfect feeling of needing to know nothing and being in the hands of someone else slipping away, replaced by cold, hard reality. "And if it was a girl we would call her Terentia or Persephone."

She spoke at last. "I could not subject my daughter to such a name, I just agreed to it to get you off my back. I would have preferred Amy or..." He cut her off, hand raised in the air.

"Let me guess, Minerva after your role model?" He mused, a look of evident disgust crossing his face.

"I would sooner name her Pansy." She disagreed with a scowl.

"Ah, _that _would have been a name." He contented, completely aware of the growing grimace on his _wife's _face. It felt so strange to think of any woman with that title.

"As I was saying before I was so _rudely _interrupted, I would have, perhaps, stuck with Terentia, though the spelling is quite atrocious." She snapped, her eyes narrowed to slits.

Malfoy merely smirked, though there was a nearly foreign emotion behind his usually cold, gray eyes. "This coming from you, _Hermy own._" He retorted, reveling in the glint of ill-concealed joy.

"Well I am quite sorry that I do not have such a spectacular, intellectual name as _Draco_. Not all of us are so lucky." She frowned sarcastically, waving her arm in the air dramatically.

He nodded in agreement. "I know, you have always been so jealous of both my given and surname. That is the true origin behind our matrimony." Hermione sighed and nodded sadly.

"The jig is up, _Malfoy, _oh, the name is like sugar violets! What did you think, that I swooned over your overwhelming charms?" He helped her to her feet, both of them relishing in Draco's defeat of the attacker of his mind.

"Did you have to name my eldest, my _heir _after your best friend? I always had a feeling that something was going on betwixt the two of you..." She stumbled, but he was quick to catch her.

Limping away from the scene she simply smirked. "I actually named him a nice English name, Harlow. It was a lucky coincidence that the nickname _Harry _was spawned from it." She informed him innocently, widening her eyes and blinking sardonically.

"Fine." He relented, glancing down at his bare left hand and frowning. "But I refuse to address _our _son in such a manner, Hermione. He will simply have to contend with being called by his full name, Harlow." He said, and with that they both turned a corner, never again speaking of their violent encounter...at least to their knowledge.

**REVIEW! i want to know what you think.**


	5. The First Malfoy

**This chapter is dedicated to Taintless (a.k.a Amy) because in the span of approximately two hours she read all of my updates for the past three weeks or so and reviewed EVERY one! cant lie and say that when i read all of your reviews that my stomach didn't do 'the conga', as J.K Rowling once said, seeing as before i was in a bad mood and doing homework, and i always appreciate reviewing but she's been with me since the beginning. (ah, May. It seems so far away...ha ha, I rhymed) you've always been such great inspiration (as are all reviewers) and ive decided to take your advice and try to write longer chapters. I like to end them where it seems necessary and usually that's only about 1000 words in, including the A/N. Seeing as all my good stories sob are coming to an end (I'm thinking that this may be the final chapter, but I'll leave it open ended. Could change my mind!) I'll decided whether it's over at the end of the chapter. By the way, I did get the name Amy from you, though I always liked the name. Harlow came from this website it means troops on the hill and i realized, after rereading chapters one through three that I had already named the baby Harry, I wanted to make the full name more interesting. With parents Hermione and Draco the kid was doomed to an odd name, anyway.) And that theory that Harry is the final Horcrux, that would make sense and I would really like to see how J.K pulls that in. I know that this little shout out is like half the chappie, but I'll make it extra long, just to make up for it. I plan on writing the trilogy, though I'll finish up When It's Over? and Six Years first. I miss Megan too. It's so fun to write about a character who has no restrictions. Can't wait for the next chapter of Three, can't help but nudge that in, as well as Be Strong and Thirst. Wouldn't be me if I didn't say something about it because you are one of the best writers on this site and i havent yet read a story of yours i didnt like, even the one i never read the original for, but I AM LOOKING FOR THE FORBIDDEN GAME BY L.J. SMITH!**

**THANX to all the other reviewers and on to the story, here we go...**

"You are, perhaps, the most ignorant person I ever had the displeasure to speak with." Hermione snapped, looking over her shoulder in annoyance.

"Besides you, of course." He responded snidely, looking down at the parchment in his hand for reference once more before crumpling it and tossing it in the bin with a look of distinct distaste pasted across his face.

Hermione rolled her eyes and glanced back at her husband, fire dwelling deeply inside her dark, intelligent eyes. She had cropped her hair unwillingly but it did have a tendency of getting in the way of what she wished to accomplish. She could not be brewing potions and have her frizzy mane caught in the beakers. That was simply a recipe for disaster. "Why do you insist on being so arrogant? You should be proud." She ignored his comment effectively.

His eyebrows rose spectacularly into his dark blond hairline. He had aged gracefully, though his eyes bore every year he suffered. "I thought that you would be a bit deterred but you are distinctly set on being proud of the boy. He has an air of dottiness around him that must be genetic...on your side, of course." He added smoothly.

She knew better than to be offended. Any marriage would get dull if it were not for friendly sparring. Draco knew how to extend the phrase to the farthest depths imaginable. He had a tendency of reducing lesser banterers to tears if they were foolish enough to get into a war of words. "I would be proud of our son no matter what. And you are too. He breaks the mold." She said briskly, gathering the scattered dishes from the table quickly before pushing them into the sink.

He grunted his disproval. "Do everything the Muggle way, don't you?" He muttered audibly. With her back turned to him he missed the grin of amusement.

"Not quite." She responded, reaching for her wand and tapping the dishes. They instantly cleaned before putting themselves back into the cabinet without any prodding. "I just prefer activeness to idleness." She chanted almost hypnotically.

He brought himself to his feet, brushing the crumbs off his collar before speaking. "Sounds like one of those bloody quotes from that damned planner you gave me last father's day. Most unromantic gift I ever received, by the way." Color rose to her cheeks but she fought the blush effectively.

"And your robe-repairing kit was worthy of praise?" She asked, quirking her lips into a smart-alecky smirk.

He looked at her almost appraisingly. "That is entirely unfair, woman. You stole my expression-" She pretended to not hear him and spoke right over his critique.

"And why, may I ask, am I stuck cleaning the dishes?" She asked loudly, nostrils flaring. He looked at her in surprise.

"I made the bloody meal. You should clean." She laughed lightly, turning around to look at him.

"And you would prefer it if _I _cooked?"

With a quite serious expression he shook his head. "Well, your cooking is murder. For a Muggle you're about as useless as a housewife as you are as a Potions Mistress." He knew he had taken it too far when the light in her eyes faded slightly, though not significantly.

She sniffed slightly. "Well at least _I _can brew Felix Felicis in four months, opposed to the standard six while it takes you at least seven." She retorted. "And I never said that I would be a housewife, nor did I intend on it. Marriage is a sixty-forty relationship and the duty of raising the children, or in our case, child, should not be put on a single parent. Same with cleaning." She gave him a look so severe that he could not help but reminisce back to his days in Hogwarts when he received similar reprimands from one Minerva McGonagall.

Desperate to change the topic, he spoke hurriedly. "You look bloody fantastic." She smiled, though not at the topic.

"Now that our nest is rather empty I can see that you're enjoying the freedom to curse flippantly. In fact, during this entire argument I have not heard a single clean sentence." He wrapped his arms around her waist, placing his head in the crook of her neck.

"You smell good. How's that? Can you criticize my brutish swearing in that comment?" He inquired, whispering into her ear. She was unaffected.

_Bloody tease_.

"It's called soap, Draco. You should embrace it's existence some time. Might do the body good." She responded in her businesslike manner. Her complete, or attempted obliviousness was, if anything, even more of a turn on."Maybe you could show me." He said temptingly. "Harlow's been out of the house for a ruddy day and we haven't taken advantage of the alone time."

She snorted. "We'll have seven years of alone time, not counting holidays. Then the nest will be permanently empty, opposed to temporarily." He could not tell whether she was relieved or disheartened at this fact.

"We could always have another." He reasoned, though by the look on her face he was well aware that he had said entirely the wrong thing.

She was hasty to retaliate. "We can't just _replace _our son!" She sounded more amused by the attempt at levity than angered. "And, I don't really think that I want anymore children. This time should be for my career, for _us_. When you came back we barely got a spare moment to ourselves, now all we have is each other."

He did not seem to agree. "We have friends, well, you do, anyway." He smirked, kissing her neck softly.

"What if, after a while, you get bored with me? Or vice versa? We never had time to talk after you were Imperiused, we could be entirely different people..." He merely chuckled at her harebrained assumption.

"I've never taken you for a simpleton, don't make me start now. I will never tire of arguing with you. You are simply the most stubborn woman that I have ever been acquainted with and _I _am _arrogant _enough to presume that you head me under the same title." He waited for a nod of affirmation before continuing.

"And you could never grow bored with me. Really, Hermione! _Me? _Even in old age when I have more hair in my ears and nose than on my head I shall always and forever be the smarmy arguable bastard that I am today and I have little doubt that you will ever change." She raised her eyebrows at this.

"_Little? _Little doubt? Not the utmost assurance that I shall always remain the same?" He shrugged simply.

"What are you going to do to convince me? I severely doubt that you could ever change my mind-" He was cut off by Hermione seizing him by the throat and pressing her mouth to his. Despite the circumstances, he smiled.

"What about writing a congratulatory to dear Harlow? The first Malfoy to ever be in Ravenclaw?" She pushed away from him in accord.

"And, technically, the first Granger to not be in Gryffindor. Perhaps we should draft a note..." She called his bluff and summoned a quill and sheet of paper.

He shook his head amusedly. _When am I going to learn that I can't beat her? _"We could do that later..." Knowing victory when she received it, Hermione flew into his arms and kissed him passionately.

"We have seven bloody years to tell him how proud we are."


End file.
